Why American Airlines Is Reducing Space In Seats, Bathrooms In Boeing 737 Jets

Air travel is stressful especially with most planes having small legroom that doesn't give you enough space to stretch or sit comfortably. But it appears like passengers would even experience more stress with American Airlines reducing the space of seats and the bathroom in some of its planes.

According to the Daily Mail, the Chicago-based airline stated that its Boeing 737 Max planes will have three throws reduced to 29 inches of leg room which is two inches lesser compared to currently allocated space. Meanwhile, the rest of the seats will have 30 inches of leg room but no confirmations have been released coming from the airline.

The purpose of the alterations is to allow more seats to be added to the new planes that would make them have around 170 seats. Also, USA Today reported that the lavatories on the new 737s would have smaller spaces as well. American Airlines even added that the changes may be applied to its older planes, although there is no concrete decision yet.

An American Airlines spokesperson said that passengers won't feel the difference of the reduction in legroom since the new seats would be able to maximize the personal space of each person. The company as also said that the seats would remain at 17.2 inches in width.

But aside from that, the seat-back monitors would also be removed so that fliers can just access the airline's digital library using their gadgets. American Airlines explained the decision with a statement that said, "'It makes sense for American to focus on giving customers the best entertainment and fast connection options rather than installing seat-back monitors that will be obsolete within a few years."

Customers addressed their concerns, explaining that using their personal devices isn't the best option since the batteries wouldn't last on long flights. American Airlines isn't the first one to do away with seat-back screens because Virgin Australia, West Jet and JetStar have already done it.